Around 1200 people from all over the country will be in Fort William on April 30 to take part in the Maggie’s Monster Bike and Hike. Whether personally affected by cancer, or simply inspired by the courage of others, each entrant will have his or her own reason for signing up. Courier health reporter Marjory Inglis explains why she has been moved to take on the Monster.
Gwen has been a good friend for many years. I don’t know for how much longer we will be friends. Gwen hopes her cancer can be cured, but she doesn’t know.
I was not thinking about Gwen when I heard about Maggie’s Monster Bike and Hike.
Maggie’s is all about negotiating very rough terrain. The Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centre in Dundee supports 14,000 people a year who are coping with cancer. It costs £350,000 a year to run the centre — funded entirely by donations.
The annual Maggie’s Monster Bike and Hike event now brings in £700,000 with each participant asked to raise a minimum of £400.
I properly introduced myself to the Monster Bike and Hike after Maggie’s put me in touch with Tanya Hay, who became a front page story in The Courier last month.
The Perth mother of two small children recently underwent a 15-hour operation to remove her cancerous breast and reconstruct an alternative with tissue taken from her buttock. Some say she is exceptionally brave but that doesn’t even begin to describe her.
Tanya is having regular chemotherapy treatment that leaves her feeling extremely unwell, but she intends to take part in The Monster on April 30, just two weeks after her chemo course is due to finish.
I did not meet Tanya in person when she overwhelmed me with her vitality, enthusiasm and determination to be positive in the face of a potentially devastating and deflating diagnosis. We talked on the phone and I asked her for a photograph to go with her story. It was Tanya’s only negative moment. She resents having no hair, a consequence of treatment. I got the photograph — bald Tanya is stunningly beautiful.
My advancing years, my festive flab, the fact that I have never before sat upon a mountain bike, never mind tackled the gear changes on such a machine, all seemed like lame excuses for not enrolling in The Monster. Then I watched the YouTube video from last year. It features several people like Tanya but, what really made me teary eyed, was a fit man wearing a T-shirt stating “Doing it for Ewen”. He was just one consonant away from spelling my friend’s name and I was a heartbeat away from committing to The Monster. The decision was made and there was no going back.
“If you are in any doubt about what you are thinking about doing, you can see it is pretty worthwhile,” she told the wannabe Monsters.
Around 1200 people from all over Scotland will be converging on Fort William on April 30 to take part in The Monster, each one supporting the network of Maggie’s centres springing up across the UK. For the 101 Dundonians team there will be a little local rivalry.
“It’s the fifth anniversary of the Fife Maggie’s and they’re going for a team of 55 Fifers,” said Bruce. “We want to start up a bit of friendly competition.”
That night, when all we wannabe Monsters met in Maggie’s, the film from last year’s event was projected large on to the gathering room’s white wall. I saw again the man with the T-shirt proclaiming he was doing it for Ewen. Then and now I was thinking of Gwen. She never misses an opportunity to exalt the work of Maggie’s and the support she gets at the Dundee centre, tucked away in a wooded corner of the Ninewells Hospital site.
So, at 53 years old, four decades after competing in my first Montrose Academy sports day and 28 years after finishing the first Dundee marathon, I will be avoiding royal wedding fever and climbing on a bike at Fort William on April 30.
I will be doing it for Gwen.For more information on the The Monster Bike and Hike challenge visit www.maggiescentres.org. To sponsor Marjory and donate to the charity go to www.justgiving.com/Marjory-Inglis. You can also find the Maggie’s Dundee Centre at www.facebook.com/maggiesdundee.